title: High internal phase agar hydrogel dispersions in cocoa butter and chocolate as a route towards reducing fat content.
abstract: Reducing the fat content of chocolate formulations is a major challenge for the confectionery industry. We report the suspension of aqueous microgel agar particles of up to 80% v/v within sunflower oil, cocoa butter, and ultimately chocolate. The optimised emulsification process involves a shear-cooling step. We demonstrate the versatility of our method when applied to white, milk, and dark chocolate formulations, whilst preserving the desired polymorph V of the cocoa butter matrix. In addition, we show that this technology can be used as a strategy to disperse alcoholic beverages into chocolate confectionery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: Thomas S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Skelhon
authors.forename: Patrik K A
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.forename: Adam R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Stefan A F
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Bon
mesh_terms: D000362:Agar / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D002099:Cacao / Q000737:chemistry*; D002182:Candy / Q000032:analysis*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000032:analysis*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000032:analysis; D000074242:Sunflower Oil
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D020100:Hydrogels; D010938:Plant Oils; D000074242:Sunflower Oil; C052387:cocoa butter; D000362:Agar